2012-11-xx: Controlling Other People

"Mom, you can't control other people, you can only control yourself." Mom was both very pleased and somewhat stymied by this statement from Nigel today. She had been using those words to encourage him not to try to control other children's behavior when playing together, but like most things parents say, it got adopted by him for his own use. He had a point, of course, and that pushed Mom to get deeper into actions and consequences, acknowledging that he was correct, but that if he did not (complete the action she was asking of him), there would be consequences.

(P.S. The details of what was being asked are relatively unimportant, something like being asked to change into pajamas before bed. The consequence may have been not reading stories before bed, or something similar. The significance was really in his identifying a person's attempt at controlling another's behavior, which leads to looking at such relationships on a deeper level than just emotional manipulation.)

2012-11-27: Nigel's Team, Superheros and Fighting

At Dancing Moose, as soon as Nigel arrived this morning, one of the kids started asking if he could be on Nigel's team that day. Nigel told him he could not. When asked why, Nigel told him he has done mean things to him. (Editor's note: I have no idea what this means.) The other child plead his case, that he was nice and would be nice to Nigel, but Nigel was not swayed.

A much broader topic came up during this exchange, though. This other child mentioned bad guys, and Nigel quickly responded, saying, "There are no bad guys." This touches on subjects much on Mom and Dad's minds lately. We, as a family, have been talking a lot about super-heros and bad guys, as it seems to be a very popular topic among kids of this age, and one Nigel is quite interested in. Mom and Dad are of the opinion that there are not bad people, just mean (meaning unfair, unkind, disrespectful, etc.) actions. Mom and Dad are also of the opinion that fighting is both inappropriate, as it always hurts people, and an inferior strategy for solving problems, one that should not be resorted to. Mom and Dad represent superheros as helping people, or rescuing them, not as fighting bad guys, but this has been a real divergence from the way superheros have been represented to Nigel by other kids.

2012-11-26 Nigel Laughing in his Sleep Again

Nigel woke Mom up at 4:00 this morning, laughing loudly in his sleep. This time, he did not remember what he was laughing about.

2012-11-14: Dream About a Horse

During the night, Nigel had an interesting dream experience. Mom and Dad happened to be lying awake, and heard Nigel start laughing in his sleep. A few seconds later, he clearly said, "Oh, that horse." Mom and Dad both laughed to each other, to hear it.

In the morning, Mom asked Nigel if he remembered laughing in any dreams. He said there was a horse in the living room, running around and breaking all the fragile things. He chuckled at the memory of the dream, and still remembered it hours later when on the way to school.

2012-11-05: Ping Pong

Nigel and Dad were playing with Dad's old Nerf Ping Pong set tonight, on the dinner table. They were using the two foam balls that came with the set and a bouncy rubber ball, which was more fun. At one point, Nigel caught the bouncy ball between his straightened left arm and the side of his body. He said he caught it "penguin style".

2012-11-02: Mouse Trap Robot

Nigel wants to build a robot that uses a magnet to suck up mouse traps. He thinks they are mean, and that people should just avoid mice if they don't like them.